Means for operating railway-switches.



1. P. ABERNATHY, MEANS FOR OPERATING BAILWAY SWITCHES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC- 14, 19I6.

Patented Feb. 5, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

J. P. ABERNATHY. MEANS FOR OPERATING RAILWAY SWITCHES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-14.1916.

Patented Feb. 5, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

MEANS FOR OPERATING RAILWAY-SWITCHES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

hpplication filed December 14, 1916. Serial No. 136,844.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1. JOHN P. ABERXATHY,

a citizen of the United States. residing at the city of St. Louis, inthe State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful ImprovementsinMeans for Qperating Railway-Switches, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention provides improved means for the motornian or driver of astreet or elevated car or the like or the operator of any other kind ofvehicle running upon rails to throw a switch point connected with thesaid rails without such motornian, driver, or operator leaving hisstation on his car. In many places it is customary for the motornian toleave his car and with a switch-bar move such switch point. or tostophis car and lean out of the front thereof and manipulate the switchpointwith such bar. In either event time is lost and traffic delayed. Anexpensive expedient is for an extra employee to be stationed at eachswitch to move the, same upon the approach of a'car. This dela orexpense is obviated by the present invention.

in the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification and inwhich like numbers of reference denote like parts wherever they occur,

Figure l is a top plan view of a street or elevated railway track;

F ig'. 2 is a Side elevation thereof and also (partly in perspectivesection) of the for- Ward part of a car running on the said track andshowing this device set in position to throw the switch point; i

Fig. 31s a sectional view'on the line 3-3 in Fig. 1 (looking-to theright) .Fig. 4 's a side elevation of a small sectlon of rail after theswitch point has been thrown and after the devlce for actuating the samehas been returned to its normal po- 1 sitiony,

Fig. 5 is a-detailed sectional view on the line 5--5 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6. is a detailed sectional view on the line 6-6 in Fig. 4; and 1Fig. 7 is a-sectional View on the line 7-? in Fig. 4.

The switch point 1 is pivoted at 2 in the ordinary manner, anddetermines whether a car traveling from left to right in Fig. 1 shall.follow the main line 3 (for which the said po t set in Fig. 1) or shallswitch oil on the ill car travel 5; from ta eoimecte-d together by hleftin Fig. 1 on the main line will leave unmoved the switch point shown inFig. 1 or the flange of its forward left-hand wheel will push it to thatposition. A car entering the main line from the curve shown in Fig. 1will enter with the flange of its for-ward left-hand wheel upon theswitch, 2'. 6.. push the switch point away from the position depicted inFig. 1.

When a car is traveling in the direction of from left to right in Fig.l, the niotorinan or other operator of the car looks ahead to seewhether or not the switch point 1 is set right to enable his car totravel in the correct direction. If it is. no action on his part isrequired. If it is not, he pushes or kicks with his foot either thetrigger 5 or the trigger 6 according to the direction in which it isnecessary for the switch point to be moved for his car to follow theproper course of travel. If. for instance, the switch point 1 is set as.shown in Fig. 1, and it is necessar for his car to turn out into thecurve. he will depress trigger 6. If, on the other hand, his course isto be straight ahead on the main line 8. and he finds switch point 1set. to turn out on the curve, he will depress trigger 5. Each of thetriggers 5 and 6 is provided with a notch or stop '7, which, when thetrigger is depressed. catches beneath the floor 8 of the car (as shownin Fig- 2). due to the slightlv tilted position that the said triggersoccupy when depressed (as shown in Fig. 2)., From this caught position,the same can be readilv released by a slight touch of the operators toeupon the top of the trigger. pressing or kickingthe same slightlyforward. Any other retain inn and releasing device may be used.

The throw of the switch point is accomplished by the depression of theproper trigger 5 or 6. because its depression carries downward fromnormal position its connected roller 9 or 10. the normal position ofsuch roller being depicted in full lines in Fig. *l and in Fig. 7 andits depressed position being depicted in Fig. 2 and in'dotted lines inFig. 4. 1twill be observed that each roller 9 or 10 has a flange 11,adaptedv to run on the outside of the rail instead of on the inside,like the flange 12 of the car wheels 13. The said flanges 11 are adaptedto impinge against.- and to depress the plungers 14 and 15. adapted tomove in sockets in plates 1%, which plan ranks 1? and Patentedlbeh.5,1918.

18 and to the switch point 1 by rod 19 and stud 20, one of thebell-cranks 17 being tight at 21 on the said rod 19. The said studprojects upwardly through a hole or slot in the rail the upper end ofthe said stud 20 being socketed in a hole in the underneath side ofswitch point 1, whereby the said switch point is moved to the right orthe left by the rocking of the stud 20 (as indicated in Fig. 5), thesaid rocking of the stud 20 being caused by the rocking of the rod 19,which in turn is caused by the movement of bell-crank 17 fast thereon at21. The said rod 19 rocks whether either trigger 5 or trigger 6 has beendepressed so as to cause its respective roller 9 or 10 to de press itsrespective plunger 11 or 15.

Springs 22 tend to return triggers 5 and y 6 to normal position as soonas the stop 7 on either has been disengaged from the floor 8. If themotorman forgets to disengage the notch 7 from the floor 8 so as topermit this return, spring 23 accommodates sufiicient play in the slot24 in bracket 25, in which the rear end of each lever :26 is pivoted, toallow the respective roller or wheel 9 or 10 to ride without unduepressure. By trunnions 27 the rollers or wheels 9 and 10 are revolublyconnected to the levers and borne thereby.

Having thus described this invention, I hereby reserve the benefit ofall changes in form, arrangement, order, or use of parts, as it isevident that many minor changes may be made therein without departingfrom the spirit of this invention.

I claim:

1. The combination of a switch point, means for moving the. same ineither direction including a member with its upper end let into saidswitch point, depressible means connected to and adapted to actuate thesaid member, the said depressible means being located on the. side ofthe .rail opposite the side on which the flange of the car wheel runsand comprising plungers slidably positioned in place, a roller or wheeladapted to depress the said plungers, a movable member bearing the saidroller or wheel, and a trigger for moving and holding the said roller orwheel into the line of engagement with the said depressible means andbeing adapted, also, to release the same, said trigger being adapted forautomatic engagement with retaining means as itis manually actuated.

2. The combination of a switch point, means for moving the same ineither direction including a stud with its upper end socketed into saidswitch point, depressible means adapted to actuate the said stud, thesaid depressible means being located on the side of the rail oppositethe side on which the flange of the car wheel runs and comprisingplungers slidably positioned in place, a roller or wheel adapted todepress the said plungers, a movable member bearing the said roller orwheel, a trigger for moving the said roller or wheel into and holdingthe same in the line of engagement with the said plungers and beingadapted, also, to release the same, and a duplication of the said rolleror wheel, movable member, and trigger for throwing the said switch pointin the opposite direction, said trigger being adapted for automaticengagement with retaining means as they are manually actuated.

3. The combination with a railway track, of a vertically movable plungerdisposed adjacent each of the rails of the track, said plunger beingmovable-in a straight line downwardly. bell cranks to which the lowerends of said plunger are connected. a rod connecting said bell crank insuch 'manner that when one of the plungers is elevated the other islowered and vice versa. an oseillatory rod to which one of the bellcranks is secured, a switch point and a member carried by the rod andengaging the switch point. for shifting the same.

1. The combination with a railway track of a vertically movable plungerdisposed adjacent each of the rails thereot'jand movable in a straightline downwardly, a longitudinally extending rod lying substantiallyparallel with one of the rails, a bell crank lever connected to saidrod, comprising a substantially horizontal arm, to which one of saidplungers is pivotally connected at its lower end and a vertical arm, atransverse rod connected pivotally to said vertical arm of the bellcrank lever, a second bell crank lever mounted adjacent the other ofsaid rails, and comprising adownwardly extending arm to which the lastnamed rod is pivotally connected. the other arm of said bell crank leverbeing pivotally connected to the other of said vertical plungers, aswitch pointand a member carried by the first named rod and engagingsaid switch pointin such manner that rocking of said rod serves toactuate said switch point in one direction or the other.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

JOHN P. ABERNATHY.

